Moonlight shimmered, and stars filled the sky. In the mountains of the southwestern Zizhou front, an eerie atmosphere was spreading among hundreds of thousands of people.

An army is also a society. When an extraordinary victory occurs suddenly, and the news spreads, people will choose to face it with different attitudes.

Surprise, anger, confusion, verification, bewilderment, incomprehension... finally to acceptance, response, thousands of people will have thousands of expressions.

After nightfall, torches still stretched across the mountains. The atmosphere inside the camps was solemn, but in different places, warhorses were still galloping, information was being exchanged, and even troops were being mobilized.

Within the Jin army, high-ranking personnel had entered the meeting process. Some went to Lion Ridge in person, while other generals were still making various arrangements.

Corresponding to Lion Ridge, on the Xiukouji front, close to midnight, a battle broke out on the northwest side of the still-quarantined foothills—a Jurchen force attempting to detour and launch a surprise attack was intercepted by a Chinese patrol, and then several other forces joined the battle. On the very front line of Xiukou, the Jurchen forces, led by Sa Ba, also organized a night raid.

When Ning Xi hurriedly arrived at the Xiukou military camp, he saw a scene of fierce fighting in the darkness: cannons, hand grenades, and flaming arrows flew across the mountain, soldiers ran between the camp and the front line. When he found Qu Zhengyan, who was in charge of the battle here, the latter was directing soldiers to support the front line, and only after giving the order did he pay attention to him.

"Ning Xi. Why are you here?" Qu Zhengyan always frowned slightly, his words steady and practical. The two saluted each other, and Ning Xi looked at the firelight on the front line and said, "Sa Ba is still taking a risk."

"Two waves of scouts came down from the north, apparently intercepted. The Jurchens' desperate gamble is not difficult to predict. The 30,000 troops at Wangyuan Bridge were lost inexplicably. As long as they don't plan to surrender, they will definitely take action now. Maybe they will take advantage of our carelessness and break through the defense line in one fell swoop, which can still save face." Qu Zhengyan looked at the front, "But that's just taking a risk. The two teams in the north can't get around, and the frontal attack looks beautiful, but it's actually weak."

Ning Xi nodded. He didn't have much contact with the front line. Looking at the intense sounds on the front line at this time, he was probably adjusting his understanding in his heart: so this is what a weak appearance looks like.

Then he smiled embarrassedly, "The battle at Wangyuan Bridge is over. My father asked me to come here to listen to what Uncle Qu and Uncle Wu think about the next operation... Of course, there is also the matter of Ning Ji. He should be approaching this way, so I came to see him by the way..."

Qu Zhengyan nodded, glanced at the northwest side of the battlefield without showing any emotion, and then patted Ning Xi on the shoulder, leading him to a small wooden shed nearby that served as a command post: "In that case, you were at Wangyuan Bridge this afternoon."

"Yes, I followed the rear defense team and watched from a distance. Later, I participated in guarding the prisoners. I didn't set off to come here until after dark."

"Okay, then tell me in detail about the battle process and the rocket."

Naturally, others had reported the situation of the Wangyuan Bridge battle to Qu Zhengyan in the afternoon, but how could the situation conveyed by the messengers be as detailed as Ning Xi, who was at the scene and was the eldest son of Ning Yi. Qu Zhengyan pulled Ning Xi into the shed, poured him a glass of water, and Ning Xi recounted the situation of Wangyuan Bridge, and roughly introduced the basic attributes of "Dijiang". Qu Zhengyan pondered for a moment, and discussed the trend of the entire battlefield with Ning Xi. By this time, the movement on the battlefield had gradually subsided.

Sa Ba, who had taken a risk but failed to gain an advantage, chose to retreat one after another. The Chinese army did not pursue them.

It was nearly midnight at this time. Not long after Ning Xi finished communicating with Qu Zhengyan, he saw Ning Ji, whose upper body was stained with blood, among the crowd returning to the camp from the battle. This young man, who was a head shorter than others, was running forward with a stretcher. On the stretcher was a seriously injured soldier whose abdomen was constantly bleeding. Ning Ji skillfully and quickly tried to stop the bleeding for the other party.

The camp for treating wounded soldiers was not far away, but in fact, after each battle, the number of accompanying doctors was always insufficient. Ning Xi rolled up his sleeves, carried a basin of hot water, and walked towards Ning Ji.

The stretcher was placed between the cloth tents, and Ning Xi also put down the hot water and reached out to help. Ning Ji looked up at him—half of his face was covered in blood, and there were abrasions on his forehead—seeing his brother's arrival, he lowered his head and continued to treat the wounded. The two brothers cooperated silently.

Seeing this scene, Qu Zhengyan turned and left.

In fact, Ning Ji had been following Mao Yishan's team and had only made contact with this side for the first time yesterday in a place further north. While the message was sent to Wangyuan Bridge, Qu Zhengyan also issued an order for this detached team to quickly converge towards Xiukou. Mao Yishan and Ning Ji and others should have quickly rushed towards Xiukou. When the Jurchens were first discovered in the northwest mountains, they happened to be nearby and quickly participated in the battle.

When Ning Xi came over, Qu Zhengyan was not entirely certain whether Ning Ji would return safely.

Having followed the military medical team for nearly two years, and having been taught by good teachers, the young Ning Ji was no less skilled than other military doctors in healing. Ning Xi had also received special training in this area and could provide some assistance. But the wounded soldier in front of him was too seriously injured. After being treated for a while, the other party's eyes gradually dimmed.

Ning Xi had been following Ning Yi, Chen Tuozi, and others in learning about larger-scale strategy and planning in recent years, and such cruel practical operations were rare. He originally thought that the brothers working together would definitely be able to save the other party, but when he saw the wounded soldier gradually die, a huge sense of frustration rose in his heart. But the little Ning Ji, kneeling beside him, was silent for a moment. After he tested the dead man's breath and heartbeat, he stroked the other party's eyes and then stood up.

"Brother, let's go help over there."

Ning Xi reacted and followed.

As partners, the two brothers subsequently saved a seriously injured person and bandaged a slightly injured person. Military doctors and nurses were walking everywhere under the camp tent, but the tense atmosphere had weakened. The two then washed their hands and faces aside and slowly walked towards the side of the military camp.

The night sky was full of stars.

Ning Xi looked at his younger brother, who was more than four years younger than him, as if he was getting to know him again. Ning Ji turned his head to look around: "Brother, where's Chuyi? Why didn't she come with you?"

"She's leading the female soldiers to help on the Wangyuan Bridge side. My father asked me to come and talk to Uncle Qu and the others about what to do next, and also to see you." Ning Xi said, and then remembered something, and took out a small package from his arms, "By the way, Chuyi asked me to bring you rice cakes. They're all cold... I'm also hungry, let's eat half each."

"Chuyi gave them to me, how can you eat half?"

"I brought them to you all the way, shouldn't I get some credit? Here, do you want the bigger half or the smaller half?"

"I'm a martial artist, and I'm growing, I want the bigger one."

"Don't you know the principle of Kong Rong yielding pears?"

"I know, brother, if it were you, would you want the bigger one or the smaller one?"

"Of course I would say I want the smaller one."

"So I want the bigger one, hahahaha..."

"Hahahaha..."

The brothers laughed at this point. This kind of rhetoric is one of the classic jokes of the Ning family, and the original source may have come from Ning Yi. The two held half a rice cake each and sat down on the open space next to the military camp.

"Brother, I heard that father took action at Wangyuan Bridge?"

"Yes, father brought out all his belongings, and 6,000 people defeated Xie Bao's 30,000 people, and our casualties were not great. The Jurchens will have a headache."

"So powerful, how did you fight?"

Ning Ji had been marching all night, and later participated in the battle. He had only heard a few fragments of news about Wangyuan Bridge later. Ning Xi then described it to him in detail again:

"...I heard that in the evening, my father had already sent someone to the Jurchen camp to prepare to talk to Zong Han. With 30,000 elite troops completely wiped out in one battle, the Jurchens really have nothing to fight."

During the conversation, both brothers had finished eating the rice cakes. At this time, Ning Ji raised his head and looked north to the place where he had been fighting, his brow furrowed slightly: "It seems that the Jin dogs don't plan to surrender."

"It will take some time to digest the information from Wangyuan Bridge. The Jurchens may take risks at first, but as long as we don't give them any flaws, they will only be able to choose between advancing and retreating after they wake up. The Jurchens came out of the Changbai Mountains and have benefited from the brave winning in a narrow encounter for thirty years. It is not without the danger of advancing, but in general, the greatest possibility is that they will choose to retreat... At that time, we will have to bite them all the way and swallow them."

Ning Ji had been in the battlefield for a while, and although he had achieved quite a bit, he was not old enough to speak on strategic matters on a large scale.

Ning Xi smiled: "Speaking of which, one thing may be certain, if you hadn't been recalled to Xiukou, you would probably have discovered tomorrow that the Han army of Li Rulai's department is rapidly retreating. Whether it is advancing or retreating, for the Jurchens, this Han army is completely worthless. We bombarded them with rockets, and it is estimated that they will completely defect and rush to the Jurchens."

Ning Ji blinked, his eyes suddenly lit up: "If the entire army retreats at this time, as long as we make a few charges from behind, they won't be able to hold on, right?"

"That's what they say, but the most important thing next is to concentrate our forces to catch the Jurchens' desperate gamble and cut off their delusions. Once they start to withdraw, it's time to cut the meat. Also, Dad is planning to show off in front of Nikan Wailan, don't get caught by the Jurchens at this time." Ning Xi added here: "So, I'm here to watch you."

Under the starlight, Ning Ji's eyes were melancholy and his face flattened.

At this time, it was already early morning of March 1st of this year. While the brothers were talking at night next to the military camp, the Jurchens on the other side of the mountain had never chosen to surrender after a sudden and tragic defeat. On the banks of Wangyuan Bridge, thousands of Chinese soldiers were guarding the newly defeated 20,000 prisoners. In the mountains more than ten miles away, Yu Yu had already led a team and set off towards this side day and night.

Waiting for them ahead was another round of interception led by Han Jing and others of the Chinese army.

In the dark forest on the Lion Ridge front, there were also sporadic but strange scout conflicts that continued to break out this night. The Jurchens were anxiously trying every means of breakthrough, and corresponding to this, a small team of the Chinese army was secretly advancing on the east side of Lion Ridge.

There was wind at night, wailing as it swept through the mountains.

The technician squad, accompanied by elite scouts, set up iron armor on the edge of the foothills, and someone had already calculated the direction.

"...Testing the horizontal line... Westward forty-three degrees, launch elevation angle thirty-five degrees, predetermined distance three hundred and fifty zhang... Two shots..."

Hot air balloons floated on the peaks of Lion Ridge. In the dimness, several senior Chinese military officers, including Pang Liuan, were standing on the hot air balloon. Each of them had a telescope, and some were rubbing their hands, quietly waiting for the moment of weapon display.

In the Jin camp, lights were dotted. At a certain moment, a rocket rose from the mountains on the east side of the camp, dragging a bright tail.

The explosion overturned the tents in the camp and started a fire. The Jin camp became lively, but it did not cause a large-scale riot or rout - this was a symbol that the other party was prepared. Soon after, several more rockets roared and fell into the Jin camp. Although it could not achieve a decisive mutiny effect, the momentum it caused was amazing.

The Jurchen scout team showed a reaction, and the two sides had a brief exchange of fire in the mountains. After an hour like this, two more rockets flew into the Jin's Lion Ridge camp from another direction.

Under the cover of stars and moon, there were still countless conflicts and malice about to break out on a seemingly peaceful night.

As long as there was a glimmer of possibility, neither side would give the other any room to breathe.

Zong Han, Gao Qingyi, Han Qixian, Polisu, Wanyan Sheyema, Dalai and others gathered in the camp behind Lion Ridge. People were calculating the variables and possibilities of the next battle. Dalai advocated a desperate gamble into the Chengdu Plain, and Polisu and others tried to calmly analyze the role and flaws of the Chinese army's new weapons.

Zong Han didn't say much. He sat in the chair behind him, as if in half a day, this Jurchen veteran, who had been on the battlefield all his life, had aged ten years. Like an old but still dangerous lion, he recalled the countless hardships and obstacles he had experienced in his life in the darkness, seeking strength from the past difficulties. Wisdom and decisiveness alternately appeared in his eyes.

Decades ago, when the Jurchens had only a few thousand supporters, everyone feared the huge Liao Dynasty. Only he and Wanyan Aguda insisted on the decision to oppose Liao. They grasped the key to the rise and fall of the ethnic group in the ups and downs of historical trends, thus determining the prosperity of the Jurchens for decades. At this moment, he knew it was the same time again.

This moment was sudden, and even the outstanding people gathered around him, such as Gao Qingyi and Han Qixian, may not have been able to realize this at the first time. But Zong Han was a person who had long shouldered the rise and fall of the ethnic group. As if in the dark, that feeling of shuddering and goosebumps had descended. What was truly terrible was not even the capture of his son Xie Bao. The defeat of those 30,000 people was a sign that would fundamentally determine the future fate of the entire Jin Dynasty.

Zong Han couldn't even fully understand this omen. In the darkness, he saw the rockets that flew into the military camp and then exploded. Although it may have such and such weaknesses, even with such weaknesses, the distance between the Jurchens and the Chinese army on the larger battlefield may have become an insurmountable gap.

Even this distance may be constantly widening.

Xiyin had once told him about the possibility of the study of material science being carried out in the Southwest. Zong Han didn't fully understand it - even Gushen himself may not have expected this scene to happen on the Southwest battlefield. The initial intention of his southern expedition flashed through his mind: the next generation of Jurchens had begun to indulge in pleasure, and perhaps one day they would even become like the Wu Dynasty in the past. He and Xiyin and others were maintaining the last glory of the Jurchens, hoping to solve the Southwest's hidden danger before the afterglow disappeared.

Is there no time left? How much hope is there to move forward?

Retreating backward, perhaps the Jin Dynasty will forever lose its opportunity...

"...All firearms must first be afraid of rainy days. Therefore, to deal with such firearms from the other side, what is still needed is continuous rainy days... Now it is only spring, and it is rainy in the southwest. If we can seize this opportunity, it is not without the possibility of victory... In addition, Ning Yi only took out this kind of thing at this time, which may prove that he does not have much of this firearm either. If we can't take the southwest this time, we can fight again in the future, and this kind of firearm may be overwhelming..."

"...How do you know that the other side is not deliberately luring us in..."

"...If so, they didn't defend against the rain and Huangming from the beginning, so we didn't come in either. If his firearms were endless, how difficult would it be to determine the battle under the city of Zizhou with one battle, with hundreds of thousands of people, how much could he bear?"

"...This statement makes sense."

Everyone was still talking. In fact, they could only talk about the current situation. They had to face reality. They didn't dare to be the first to say words like retreating the army. Zong Han supported himself on the chair and stood up.

"Since the start of the war last year, it has been more than four months now. Our army has been moving forward all the way, wanting to flatten the southwest. But the method of retreating all the way out of Jianmen Pass has never been done from beginning to end."

As Zong Han said this, his gaze slowly swept over everyone, and the tent was so quiet that it was almost suffocating. He only heard him say slowly: "Let's do it... As soon as possible, let's do the method of retreating."

Gao Qingyi, Polisu and others' eyes sank, as deep as ancient wells, but they didn't speak. Dalai clenched his fists, and his body was trembling. Sheyema lowered his head. After a while, Sheyema came out and knelt in the middle of the tent.

"Your son, I am willing to guard the rear for the army."

A pale aura was descending here. This was a taste that all Jin generals had never tasted. Countless thoughts, mixed feelings, were surging in their hearts. No detailed decision could be made this night. Zong Han didn't answer Sheyema's request either. He patted his son's shoulder, but his eyes were only looking at the front of the tent.

"At dawn, have someone report to the Chinese army that I want to talk to that Ning Yi."

For the first time in decades, the air around the Jin army's camp had a slight coolness. Looking backward from the back, in this conflicting night, the signals of the changing times caught many people off guard. Some people clearly felt the huge gap and change, and more people may have to slowly chew on all of this for dozens of days, months, or even longer.

At dawn, Yu Yu's attempt to lead the army to rescue Wangyuan Bridge was discovered by the intercepting army, and he returned in defeat. The front line of the Chinese army was still as solid as gold, with no gaps to be found. The Jurchen side replied to the message that Zong Han and Ning Yi would meet to "talk". Almost at the same moment, some other news was passed into both camps one after another on this day.

In the morning sun, Ning Yi carefully read the urgent message, and when he put down the intelligence, he sighed long and long. In this news, there were both good news and bad news.

In recent years, the nature of good news and bad news has been much the same. Good news is bound to be accompanied by bad news, but bad news does not necessarily bring good news. War only makes people impassioned in novels. In reality, there may only be the difference between hurting people and hurting people more.

The Battle of Changsha was won.